Roller for use in printing



` s. v. BEAUNE ROLLER FOR USE IN PRINTING Jan. 10, 1939.

Filed sept. 2.15,' 1935 @2W w m Q N Q M .m A

.RSM

Patented Jan. 10, 1939 2,143,617 ROLLER FOR USE 1N PRINTING Serge Virgile Beaune, Creteil, France, assigner to Socit des Procds (Seine), France Serge Beaune, Creteil Application September 23, 1935, Serial No. 41,800 In France October 5, 1934 3 Claims.

The present invention relates to elements for usein printing operations and more particularly pertains to rollers employed in printing processes.

Use has already been made in various printing processes-of rollers in which the active surface, which performs an inking, wiping or any other function, is formed by a coating, the composition of which is generally a gelatine base, and which is produced by moulding upon a core or cylinder of chosen diameter.

Such rollers are generally imperfectly centered. If one of these rollers is examined, the. axis of which is of necessity free, it will be noted that the rollerrebounds and jumps and these movements are more noticeable as the speed of the machine increases.

These jumps produce irregularly inked zones and sometimes even traces of rubbing.

In order to remove these objections it is necessary to have a number of inking rollers in order to obtain a `general and uniform inking of the form, but without it being, however, possible to a uniform proportioning of thevolume of ink deposited by' these rollers upon the form.

Similar objections occur when such rollers. obtained by moulding; are employed for purposes other than inking.

In view of the fact that the moulding can only be effected with a layer having a relatively great thickness, the aflinity of these rollers for ink diminishes progressively and uniformly even when they are placed in a constant hygrometric medium.

In fact, upon contact with air a dehydration of the outer surface of the rollers occurs and this leadsto the formation of a stronger outer lm which is smooth to the touch, while the internal mass of the gelatine retains its elasticity. This heterogeneity is exactly contrary to the conditions which are recognized as favourable in y,the inking art. r

If, in order to remedy this objection in part. greater quantities of glycerine and glucose are introduced in the gelatine, then the whole mass becomes soft and particularly sensitive to rises in temperature.

On account of their mass, rollers having a 'core coated with gelatine by moulding and which are currently employed, do not stand up to high speeds every well. Their critical point as regards the deformation produced by these speeds uis reached rapidly, particularly when the surroundingy temperature exceeds normal' temperature.

(l. lll-67.8)

Under such conditions the coatings become deformed and sometimes separate from the core.

These rollersare unsuitable for inking -cuts produced by acid or an engraving tool andin general'for all intaglio processes, as the rollers cannot withstand any tangential pressure-without deformation.

'Ihe moulding method of manufacturing these printing rollers does not permit coatings to be obtained or a suiliciently small thickness which is necessary for certain work.

The object of the present invention is to remove these various disadvantages and it consists in replacing the so-called moulded" rollers, that is to say, rollers provided with a coating produced by moulding upon the core and employed in the various printing processes, by rollers provided with removable coatings which constitute true sheaths or sleeves prepared without the use of the core to be covered.

' These removable sleeves are constituted by a layer of strictly constant thickness made of asuitable plastic material, which may if desired `be deposited upon a support made of fabricar of any other material upon which the layer can Y adhere firmly.

These plastic .removable sleevesmade of a suitable material or of composite construction may thus be prepared and stocked or` delivered in the form of bands, cut as required, and which in order to obtain a rollerare firmly rolled and xed upon theperiphery of a cylinder, the developed surface of which corresponds to the length of the band.

For example, in order to make an inking roller, the sleeve separately prepared will have a con-2 stant thickness, which may be suitably reduced to about two millimeters.

When provided with such a thin removablesleeve, these rollers'can be utilized for all methods of printing.

For wiping, the sleeve may even be reduced to a constant thickness of 0.5 millimeter applied upon a support previously rendered impervious upon its outer surface, this support being made .of fabric or any other flexible material, enabling the thin active lay'er to adhere.

'Ihe method of manufacture of inking rollers may be carried out as indicated in the drawing, in 4 which Figures 1 and 2 show end elevations of different modications. i

Figure 3 diagrammatically illustrates a machine in longitudinal section for manufacturing the sheaths.

For the manufacture of inking rollersv (Figure `1)` by means of removable sheaths, according to the invention these inking rollers comprise preferably a support made of a metal cylinder P, having a chosen diameter and covered with a layer 5 of ebonite Q of 5 millimeters thickness.

The whole is turned to the chosen diameter, account bing taken of the thickness of the sheath E. winch is cemented in the cold state with a,l sharp joint V, upon the ebonite Q.

.10 The inking rollers thus formed have a strictly constant diameter, which is a necessary condition for the correct perfomance of the inkin'g function required of these rollers. `In addition to its property of possessing a constant afnity for ink A and its defined and unvarying elasticity, the coating forming the body of the sheath can be easily cut out with great accuracy when it is only required to ink chosen portions of the roller, and this cutting operation can easily be carried out on account of the small thickness of the sheath or plate.

The wiper rollers ,(Figure 2) comprise a support made of a metal cylinder Pl covered with a layer of ebonite Q1 having a thickness of 5 millimeters and then a rst layer of rubber J1 of the. same thickness. The layer of coating material R1 is, as in the case of the inking rollers, attached by cementing in the cold state, but with a covered joint I in order to protect the rubber from any possible contact with the solvent. Naturally, the numerical data given above are only mentioned by way of indications and may vary according to the circumstances of manufacture or to the particular use to which the rollers are to be put.

. the bodies of sheaths according to the invention of a composition which is particularly suitable to serve for inking' and wiping sheaths or sleeves.

40 The composition of the material-is as follows:-

The preparation is effected as follows:-

The gelatine placed in a first perforated container is immersed for three minutes in a tank containing the distilled water or in the absence of distilled water soft water maintained at a temperature of about 15 C.

The gelatine is then removed and drained for one hour. It is placed in a water bath in a container at a temperature of C., which must .never be exceeded.

The Meudonwwhite has` been finally crushed with a part of the glycerine in the proportion of .n 25 parts of white to 10 parts of glycerine.

Inthe water vbath the mixture is brought tol the temperature of 55 C., one half of the available glycerine is then added.

The rest of the glycerine is placed in a third container with the wax which has previously been grated. When the gelatine forms a homogeneous paste care is taken to observe that the material contained in the two other containers has reached the temperature of 55 C., then the contents of the second container are poured into the gelatine while agitating continually and finally the contents of the third container are added thereto.

When the mass is perfectly mixed it -is passed 15 through a fine cloth into a heated vessel. It is 'adapted to slide on similarly shaped guide rails As statedv above it is preferred to constitute then poured into moulds of` any shape,.lightly oiled.and then it isallowed to cool and is :nemoved from the moulds.

When manufacturing the sheaths or sleeves, the material is cut for example in small cubes, 5 placed in a vessel in a water bath upon a very slow nre. Its pasty state must be maintained at a temperature of 50 C.

Referring to the drawing there is shown in Figure 3 a movable elementformed in the nature 10 of a steel slab A-B preferably ground or polished and being chronium plated upon its upper surface. The slab in cross section is U-shaped and or a track O. l5

A tempered steel blade C is fixed in a blade holder D which is adapted to be pivoted about an axis D and soarranged as to be locked in any angular position by means of any well known locking member (not shownin the drawing). 20 The blade C is preferably of a width corresponding to that of the slab A-B and is ground on both sides so as to provide a knife-like edge.

Upon each o f the lateral edges of the slab is xed a rod E the thickness of which may be ad- 2t vantageously two millimeters if it is desired to manufacture coating sleeves or sheaths or rollers or other inking members and the diameter of the rods E may be approximately .5 millimeter in making wiping sleeves and sheaths and rollers. 3i

. The material K which constitutes the body of the sheath is deposited upon the slab and held laterally by the side plates G which are adjustable and mounted so as to project above the surface of the slab A-B. At the rear end B of the 3: slab is formed a container L which is adapted to 4receive any Vunused material which may be present at the end of the manufacturing operation. The supporting fabric H may be wound upon a drum I and is held under tension by means of a. 41 counterweight M. The free end of the fabric H is fed over`a guide roller to the front end A of the slab and-held there, for example, by means of a clip N. The blade C, by an angular displacement about the axis D' may be adjusted and 4 fixed in the required position in order to compress fabric H upon the rods E. 'I'he distance from the edge of the blade C to the slab represents the thickness of the body of the sheath desired to be obtained. 5 After having placed the side plates G in the desired position a sumcient quantity of material mixed as hereinabove described and having a pastyconstituency and raised to asuitable softening temperature is Ypositioned over the slab t A-B and this material is then engaged by its mass between the slab and the fabric. The slab nis then moved forward at a speed which is preferably uniform such al. for example, at the rate of millimeters per` second. Under these coni ditions the material is compressed by the blade C between the slab A-B and the fabric H to lthus be spread in a imiform layer over the width of the slab. 'l'.'he front end of the slab is adapted to engage-an abutment a to stop'the forward movement thereof and the unused material will thus be moved into thecontainer L.

The fabric which has thus received its rst layer is allowed to cool. Another layer or an additional coating may be applied by repeating' the above described operation. 'me backward movement of the slab is, limited by the stop b. The layer of material spread in such a manner adheres to the fabric and becomes detached from the polished slab. After cooling the coated fabric may be cut at B and detached at N. The surface of the material is found to be bright, polished and free from all blowholes including traces of air bubbles. For the manufacture of wipercoatings the fabric is provided with a layer which renders it impervious prior to the coating operation asA above described. The gelatin coating, as will be apparent, is applied upon the surface of the fabric which has not been rendered impervious.

What I do claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:- 1. A roller adapted for use in printing operations comprising, a rigid core, an outer removable coating of plastic'material covering said core 2. A roller adapted for use in printing operations comprising, a cylindrically 4shaped rigid core, a removable sheath of constant thickness arranged around said core, said sheath consisting of a supporting fabric having a non-porous gelatinous surface layer of a thickness substantially less than 2.5 millimeters, said layer applied to the fabric before the same is placed on the roller. i

3. A roller adapted for use in printing operations comprising. a rigid cylindrically shapedy core, a removable sheath arranged around said core, said sheath consisting of a supporting fabric having a gelatinous surface layer thereon of constant thickness which is applied to said fabric before the same is placed on the roller, the surface of said gelatinous layer being smooth and free from holes.

SERGE VIRGILE BEAUNE. o 

